Thankful

Once a week I head down to Richmond to go thrift shopping at Value Village. On my way to work I saw a homeless man. No shoes, toenails like claws, barely dressed and all his possessions in transparent plastic bags. He saw me walking and practically jumped out of the way to be polite. When I approached him to give him some money, he was scared at first and then overjoyed and then very thankful. It was very humbling to encounter someone with so little. I'm thankful to still be working and having enough to at and enough to wear. There are plenty of those in this city who do not have even that much. In these stressful times, we have to remember to still be kind to one another, because we are all human beings.

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grateful person

Mar 8, 2021 at 6:32am

God Bless you. You are Wonderful. i agree wholeheartedly with you. Kindness Never Fails

10 2Rating: +8

Thank you...

Mar 8, 2021 at 7:30am

This is such a heartwarming post.

Honestly, homelessness and poverty shouldn't exist in the 21st century. We were post-scarcity in relation to basic life necessities decades ago, and just keep getting churned along by this stupid, fossilized and unnecessary capitalist system that seems to have endless (almost self-powering) momentum.

Real and much more ethical and environmentally sustainable alternatives exist, like maximally ecocide-reducing UBI rollouts and even much more radical things like transitioning into voluntary, volunteer-based sharing economies where money, paywalling and enforced exchange isn't even a thing anymore because all necessities (at least; likely everything else that makes sense too) are created, harvested, transformed, offered and distributed by volunteer networks who also happen to have skillsets and passions in those areas and already have their basic needs essentially unconditionally met as well. That plus automating as much needless labor away as possible would be so much less agonizing than what we have right now, which is basically a modern dystopian slave society that is so utterly inefficient and unnecessary, I have to wonder if it isn't deliberately planned rather than just the inevitable outcome of being not that distinguishable from from our great ape cousins an evolutionarily short handful of thousands of years ago.

I'd like to say that I don't understand why we're still doing this incredibly unethical, ecocidal and mass misery-inducing capitalism thing, but in many ways I think I do understand some of the root systemic causes of its continuation. :(

Anyways.... thank you again for the love and appreciation-filled post. :) Poverty needs to be a thing of the past as rapidly as possible.

11 3Rating: +8

Most...

Mar 8, 2021 at 10:37am

... homeless guys are quite bright. If you think our society wants the brightest hanging around, well, you probably aren't one of us.

6 3Rating: +3

I'm thankful for your confession

Mar 8, 2021 at 11:30am

It's lovely to be reminded that there are still good humans out there.

9 2Rating: +7

@Thankful

Mar 8, 2021 at 12:55pm

thankyouthankyouthankyou ... you made my day and to the few down voters: Nothing personal and i'm not dissing you but, I don't get how anyone could possibly downvote this? Anyone whose been around the block knows its due to your own unresolved inner pain. There's a way to have a good life if you so chose. Suggest you look for someone genuine for counselling. Know this though: The real deal helpers never advertise or put a price tag on their services. The universe(s) provide and help those who help others ............. "We who live on the road must have a code, so treat your children well ...."

5 2Rating: +3

Y. Eshua

Mar 8, 2021 at 3:14pm

What if a billionaire dressed up like that on the weekends to find his new group of friends? Cosmetics are really advanced these days...

7 5Rating: +2

He doesn't need you

Mar 9, 2021 at 12:55am

Or your stinking badges. Do him a real favor and leave him alone

4 7Rating: -3

@Y. Eshua

Mar 9, 2021 at 12:57pm

I bet at least one billionaire has already tried this. :) It's an interesting idea

5 2Rating: +3

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